CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Police in Charlotte are investigating the vandalism of two Confederate monuments in the city.

Mecklenburg County officials told local media Wednesday that someone apparently smeared liquid cement across both sides of a monument unveiled in 1929.

Someone also spray painted "racist" on the memorial on the grounds of Old City Hall. That monument had been put up in 1977.

The crimes come as the nation debates the appropriateness of the Confederate battle flag and Confederate monuments after the shooting of nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. The suspect in that case has been seen posing in photographs with the Confederate flag.

Dan Morrill of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission said the damage to the monuments shows anger, frustration and darkness.